Katakana Analysis Draft

Katakana is mainly used as Onomatopoeia - Emphasis - Loanwords.


- Onomatopoeia:　ワンワン(bowwow)、ブ-ン(zoom)、ドキドキ(heart beat)
       Katakana is used to imitate the sound. Similar situation exists in kanji, but the Chinese characters used as onomatopoeia are mostly very difficult to read and write. So, it is a smart choice to use katakana to record the voice.
 
- Loanwords: サラダ(salad)、スタンプ(stamp)、サーモンカルパッチヨ(salmon carpaccio)、 ネギトロ(toro with scallion)、ユニクロ(UNIQLO)、テラ(tiger)、マツダ(Mazda)
       I think this group may be the largest one in these three categories. When entering a Japanese restaurant, it is easily to discover many loanwords in katakana on their menu. These words are mainly loaned from Western languages. Sometimes, we use katakana to refer to typical species or brand, because they are kind of proper expressions.


- Emphasis: コウテイペンギン(emperor penguin or "aptenodytes forsteri")、ネコ(cat)、ココ (here)、イマ(now)
       This category is really special in that they are not so fixed. Sometimes, people just use it to make things more attractive. For example, in magazines, we may find イマ(now) written down together with commercials (such as discount in limited time). This way of using katakana is random, which shows the personal inclination of typical expressions.


When preparing for this draft, I found a video on Youtube. The teacher has given us some explanations about the usage of Hiragana/ Katakana/ Kanji (although most of her ideas are not new to us). Share with you all! :)

When to use Hiragana/Katakana/Kanji